Discussion Questions:

Sermon Overview 

Welcome the independent, inescapable authority of Jesus.

I. Jesus' authority is independent of whether we recognize it (vv. 1-8)

II. Jesus' authority is inescapable by those who reject it (vv. 9-19)

Digging Deeper    

Read Luke 20:1-19

1. The religious leaders wanted to trap Jesus with their questioning, but he questions them instead. Why isn't Jesus concerned with answering their question about authority? 

2. "Humans love our autonomy. We want to be authorities unto ourselves." Where do you see this true in your own life? 

3. Why is it better to have Jesus in authority over our lives rather than trying to take authority ourselves?

4. Key to understanding verses 9-18 in this passage is Isaiah 5:7: "For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel."  How do we see churches today refusing to acknowledge the Lord's authority over them, just as Israel refused to acknowledge the Lord's authority over them? 

5. What does it mean that "the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone" (Ps. 118:22)?

6. Where do you "stumble over" or struggle with Jesus's authority? Some categories named in the sermon were his claims about who he is, his miracles, which may seem impossible, his ethics, which may seem too strict, and his exclusivism, which may seem unfair.

7. How can we, as a Gospel Community, help each other in daily surrendering to the authority of our King? 

Prayer